On December 19, porn star Nikki Benz released a series of tweets alleging that during a shoot for a Brazzers video, she was choked and demanded “cut,” but was ignored by the director and her scene partner. She says she was then forced to say she approved of the scene on camera to get paid.

AVN reports that the director, Tony T., and the performer, Roman Nomar, both filed a defamation suit on Wednesday against Benz in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit seeks unspecified damages but says Benz’s statements on Twitter caused them “sustained shame, mortification and hurt feelings” and have damaged their reputation in their industry.

Advertisement

Both Benz and Nomar were asked a series of industry-standard questions on camera following the scene, which include “whether they were there of their own volition, whether they had fun, and whether they would do it again.” The raw footage of the shoot was shown to what AVN characterizes as select industry members on Wednesday night by the complainants’ attorney, Karen Tynan. In the initial take, Benz answers no to the third question. The camera cuts, then the questions are repeated and she responds yes, as she alleged:

Benz also shared the specifics of what she says happened during her sex scene with Nomar on Twitter:

BuzzFeed reports that porn actor and director Dana DeArmond tweeted in response to Benz that she had a similar experience with Brazzers, and specifically Tony T.:

More industry people showed their support of Benz, suggesting this is a common phenomenon with the company:

Porn performer Gen Padova replied to Benz, tweeting, “I’ve worked with [Tony T] many years ago and have a very good idea what you dealt with.” Porn actor and model Carter Cruise, apparently referring to Tony T, said, “That guy is psychotic.” And porn actor Devon said, “Same thing happened to me.” She added, “They only apologize to #certain girls, when Mr. T steps outta line.”

“All the footage, everything, the evidence is gonna be there,” he said. “We’re gonna let the work and the proof talk for itself.” Tony T claims that the footage shows “there’s no stomping” and that “none of the stuff she ever claimed happened.” He alleges the footage shows Benz calling “cut,” but said: “The one time she said stop we stopped right away.”

When asked for a statement, Benz told Vocativ that “we all know footage can be edited, deleted, and tampered with,” but made no other comment. On that same day, she tweeted, “Remember that truth will reveal itself. As a 13 year veteran in this wonderful industry I’m grateful to have an outstanding reputation.”